Diablo 3 PvP Arena Battles Announced

As well as revealing at BlizzCon that Diablo 3's fifth and final class is the Demon Hunter, Blizzard has announced that the action-RPG sequel will offer a player vs. player arena battle system complete with team fights, ranked games and matchmaking.

Taking place in carefully designed arenas--unlike Diablo 3's random dungeons--the battles will let you use "the character of your choice, with access to all of the gear and skills you've accumulated playing the game in single-player or cooperative mode."

While battles are ranked, Blizzard explains that "Our system is focused on encouraging furious combat and multiplayer progression, not stringent competitive rankings, so you'll earn points after every match and Battle.net matchmaking will pit you against similarly skilled opponents." Blizzard also says its "looking into other PvP game types that exist outside the ranking system, like 1-on-1 duels and mutually chosen team battles."

Unfortunately, there's still no further word on when Diablo 3 will be hitting PC.